Born in France in 1958, he took a graduate degree in Philosophy at the University of Paris IV Sorbonne while studying at the EcoleNormaleSupérieure in Paris. He came to the US in the early eighties and obtained his Ph.D. in 1985 from Indiana University. He joined Georgetown University in 1991. He is currently Professor at Georgetown UniversitySchool of Foreign Service in Qatar, where he has been teaching since 2006. He is editor-in-chief of the inter-religious journal Religions-Adyan published by the Doha International Center for Interfaith Dialogue.

Laude's scholarly work is primarily focused on comparative mysticism, the symbolic imagination in religion and literature, and Western interpretations of Islam and Eastern traditions. He is the author of several books and numerous articles on these subjects.